Ardata Carmia
Ardata Carmia is a young Alternian troll living in Outglut during the time period of Hiveswap and Hiveswap Friendsim. Ardata was first revealed during the Hiveswap Troll Call event alongside Marvus Xoloto. Her bullet points were "bloodthirsty on main", "probably vriska, and "fresh to death sentence". She is one of the few trolls whose sign is unknown, as it is not visible on any of her sprites and was obscured by her cape on her Troll Call card. Ardata was later featured alongside Diemen Xicali in Hiveswap Friendship Simulator: Volume One. She was designed by Angela. Etymology Ardata is the name of an Elder god, sometimes called the Spider Queen in the Malazan Book of the Fallen series. Carmia is Hebrew for "song". Her name could also be split up into “AR” and “data.” Both related to technology and could be a reference to her YouTube-ing. Carmia could also be a play on “camera.” (Please clean this paragraph up, I’m bad at this.) Biography Ardata was born a cerulean-blood, granting her quite high status. She grew up in her hive in Outglut, alongside her Lusus, a creature resembling a giant tick. Ardata amassed a following on social media to befit her perceived superior status, seemingly focused on web-broadcasts conducted from her hive's basement. These involved her portraying the sinister, bloodthirsty traits expected of her caste, and taking captive other, lower ranking young trolls to do her bidding, torture, brainwash, mind-control, and feed her Lusus. These trolls are kept in cages, however the doors to these cages are not locked, and, presumably due to the application of repeated extreme conditioning and/or mind control, verbally idolize Ardata and seek to please her by doing her bidding. During Hiveswap Friendsim: Vol. 1, the player can make various choices about how to interact with Ardata. As such, it is difficult to tell which of these routes is the canonical "true" route of events as they play out for Ardata; however, as the "good" ending, the "friiiendshiip!" ending might be considered the intended eventual path. Furthermore, Hiveswap Friendsim as a whole is described as being "loosely-canonical", so the applicability of its events to the Hiveswap canon may be questionable. If the player chooses Diemen's route, Ardata largely does not appear. However, if the player chooses to pat Diemen on the back and enters the "you killed him!!" ending, she makes a brief appearance in a scene where she offers to clean up Diemen's corpse after he is accidentally killed by the player. If Ardata's own route is chosen, the player, as the MSPA Reader, can encounter Ardata on the streets of Outglut. Injured and hungry, the player explains that they are looking for help and food. Gleefully and imperiously, Ardata tells them that she would love to be their "friend", and invites the player to come to her hive. Asked how this sounds, the player is given a choice of saying "It sounds good. I'll do whatever you say," or simply stating "it sounds... fine. I guess." If the latter is chosen, Ardata will take offense and dismiss the player angrily, yelling "get the fuck out of my face, and never come back". This results in the first, shorter "rejection!!!" ending. If the player chooses to accompany Ardata, they both arrive at her hive. The MSPA Reader expects to receive food and medical treatment; however, Ardata instead leads them through her kitchen and down into her basement, or "dungeon", where her captives are locked in cages. Ardata explains that she wants the MSPA Reader to assemble a flat-packed table for her, despite their various injuries and broken arm. They are forced to express their distaste for this task as they realize that Ardata has the ability to read their mind. However, despite this they remain optimistic about the prospect of friendship. "Rejection!!!"/Bad Ending Unpacking the table, the MSPA Reader realizes that the screws require an allen wrench, despite there being none provided. At this point, the player can choose to either attempt an escape up the stairs, or to continue to try to assemble the table anyway. If they choose to assemble the table, their first attempt results in the table collapsing and a screw rolling under a piece of furniture, which Ardata psychicly prevents another of her captives from retrieving. On their second attempt, the MSPA Reader manages to assemble the table by screwing in the screws with their hands, although the surface of it is unstable. The table has fastenings to hold a person down, Ardata explains that she wants to test it, although with one of her other captives and not the MSPA Reader. A nameless troll is placed on the table, fastened, and then Ardata calls her lusus to jump onto their chest and start consuming their blood. Meanwhile, Ardata reminds the player that a screw is still missing, and they are forced to retrieve it from under the furniture with a screwdriver, and then crawl under the table to insert it. However, the unstable table then collapses under the weight of the troll and Lusus, crushing the MSPA Reader's legs and pelvis. Flailing around in pain, the MSPA Reader accidentally stabs the screwdriver into the body of the Lusus, which begins screaming in pain. Now realizing that they must escape, the MSPA Reader slaps the tick's rear end and yells "yeehaw", prompting it the start running around the room, and to eventually hurtle up the stairs and out of Ardata's hive, the MSPA Reader in tow. Ardata follows the pair out and rejects the player's friendship, resulting in the second "rejection!!!" ending. "Friiiendshiiip!"/Good Ending If the player chooses to attempt an escape earlier, then the MSPA Reader throws the screwdriver at Ardata and runs for the stairs. However, using her psychic abilities she stabs it into their leg and then forces them to carry her up the stairs back into the kitchen, despite their broken arm, ribs, and other injuries. Once in the kitchen, she continues to puppet them as she directs them to cook food for her; an alien steak, very rare. After this is done, she releases the MSPA Reader from her control, and invites them to feed her the food. Due to their injuries, the Reader finds this difficult, but eventually manages the task. After this is done, Ardata tells the player that they have done well, but then starts laughing maniacally, before becoming contemplative and starting to cry. Ardata explains that she feels the pressure of having to maintain her social media following, and her sinister Highblood persona. She questions whether her sinister attributes are her true calling, but then laments that if she reigned in her persona she might be seen as weak, and be taken captive herself by a purple blood to appear in their broadcasts in turn. Relating how she didn't ask for the pressure of being "superior to so many", she forces the MSPA Reader to stab a fork into her hand in an apparent act of self-injury. She then proceeds to muse on how, while neither her viewers or her captives are truly her friends, the one person who has truly non-coercively wanted to be her friend is the MSPA Reader. In a change of heart, she seems to sincerely accept their offer of friendship - and, as a "reward", scrapes the gristle off her plate and into their mouth. This results in the good "Friiiendshiiip!" ending to Ardata's route. Personality and Traits A high-ranking cerulean-blood, Ardata maintains a significant following on social media by playing up her sinister personality, torturing captives in her basement on camera, and utilizing them as slaves with the aid of her mind control abilities. Ardata exhibits a socially conditioned sense of self-importance and disregard for others that is typical of those born into her caste. The expectation of sinisterness and viciousness that she attempts to embody in her persona lends her a dramatic maniacal air in her speech and actions, and her callousness is displayed in the lowblood captives she torments in her dungeon for the pleasure of her viewers. Below this, however, Ardata shows signs of self-doubt and insecurity even through her self-importance, as she worries whether or not she can live up to the expectations that others project onto her. It seems that at least part of her outward-facing personality is a persona for her viewers, although she demonstrably does have little regard for others and for the concerns of people outside of herself. Her initial interactions with the MSPA Reader seem to show that she has little interest in them other than how she can use and exploit them. Physically, Ardata is a cerulean-blooded female troll with long, straight black hair. She possess three eyes, two in the usual positions, with the third being positioned beneath one of the others. Her horns are S-shaped, with three sharp notches in them halfway up. She is typically portrayed wearing a cape. Her sign cannot be seen on any of the images of her revealed so far, and as such is as yet unknown. Ardata possess psychic abilities of a similar variety to those possessed by fellow cerulean-bloods Vriska and Aranea. She has shown the capability to both read minds and control people's actions, with her abilities affecting both other trolls and the MSPA Reader with seemingly equal ease. Gallery Friendsim Vol1 Character Select.jpg|Ardata in the original (now deprecated) Hiveswap Friendsim Volume One character select screen (left) Vol1 CSelect New.jpg|Ardata in the revamped Volume One character select screen (left) Ardata introduction.jpg|Ardata during her introduction scene I love her actually.png|Ardata engaging in her characteristic maniacal laughter ArdataSprites.gif|Ardata's character sprites from Hiveswap Friendsim Trivia *Despite Ardata's sign being unknown, by the end of the good ending in Friendsim, she seems to behave somewhat like a Heart player, as she struggles with her own identity to try and the Heart-bound are described as being great at putting on and taking off masks, as she does this in her good ending when she admits her own doubts about herself. **Ardata also behaves like a Dersite, as she's not very satisfied with her life, meaning she could be a Scoro. ***Coincidentally, Ardata could also potentially be the first Dersite Cerulean blood. *A section of her nails are painted cerulean blue, while the tops remain the natural color of yellow. Category:Trolls Category:Hiveswap Friendsim characters Category:Hiveswap Neutral/Undetermined